Site Search Navigation

Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

When Technology Attacks

By Jenna Wortham May 8, 2011 7:58 amMay 8, 2011 7:58 am

I recently received a panicked text from a friend who had bumped into his handsome crush on the street, an unrequited love interest who had stood him up after the two made plans for a casual date. He wanted to know what he should do. I hastily tapped out a reply. I tried to send “RUNNNNNN!” which my phone mistook for “SEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” and I accidentally sent that instead. My poor friend sent back a frantic “HUH!?” and I had to send a handful more to clarify and calm him down.

That wasn’t the first time my phone rebelled against me, requiring a fair amount of damage control to remedy the confusion; far from it, in fact.

A few weeks ago, my phone neglected to sound the alarm I’d set to wake me up in time to meet my running group for a morning run. My friends anxiously waited outside my building as I hopped around my apartment, dazed, stuffing arms and legs into workout gear, grunting and cursing out my smartphone.

I can’t count the number of times I thought I had securely locked my phone and jammed it in my jeans, only to hear the muffled, tinny shouts of someone my rear had accidentally dialed emanating from my back pocket moments later.

My phone’s autocorrecting tendencies are even more puzzling. It once changed “Mothers” to “Mosques,” “yesssssssss” to “herpes.”

It’s enough to make me wonder if my phone has become self-aware and is turning on me, like a modern day Skynet, hellbent on destroying my life.

It may sound like a joke, sure, but when my phone takes it upon itself to dial an errant number, it’s never the number of a sympathetic friend who has had the same thing happen multiple times. Somehow, it always manages to call the distant relative whose calls I forget to return, or the ex I’ve resolved to stop communicating with though I haven’t yet deleted the number.

It’s not that I have a faulty model; the phenomena has become so widespread that several sites dedicated to chronicling the mortifying and hilarious misfires of our devices have cropped up online.

What embarrassing or comical situations has your phone gotten you into? While I affectionately start referring to my iPhone as iSkynet, please share your own experiences in the comment section below.

What's Next

About

Gadgetwise is a blog about everything related to buying and using tech products. From figuring out which gadget to buy and how to get the best deal on it to configuring it once it’s out of the box, Gadgetwise offers a mix of information, analysis and opinion to help you get the most out of your personal tech.